Live reporting: Modi blasts Congress over price rise and dynastic rule at Himachal rally

Sujanpur: Taking on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for "its failure to check price rise", BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today said his party would protect the interests of the farmers."The (central) government promised to reduce price rise within 100 days. Have the high prices came down? Has any Congress leader given any reply (in this regard)," Modi said at a public rally here in Hamirpur district, some 200 km from Shimla.Accompanied by the party's national president Rajnath Singh, Modi, donning a Himachali cap, said the Congress leaders were least bothered about the common man.Recalling the contributions of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said: "When Atal-ji was the prime minister, the apple growers were getting remunerative prices for their produce.""Now, the apple growers from Himachal are not getting good prices. But the apple imported from foreign countries is getting good prices," he said.In a bid to woo ex-servicemen, a major vote bank in the state, Modi said: "It's a land of warriors and martyrs. I welcome the ex-servicemen who joined the BJP. It's the party where there is no membership, but there is relationship."In his speech, the Gujarat chief minister said that sadly a country with a population of 1.25 billion has failed to make a mark at the international level."Our soldiers are beheaded. I have seen soldiers in the Kargil war. I have seen their bravery. They are ready to sacrifice, but our neighbours keep on pressurizing us," he said.Here is the live reporting for the rally: 3:16pm-Modi concludes his speech with chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram'3:13pm- Modi: NDA is forming the next government. NDA stands for National Democratic Alliance and this will become National Development Alliance post-election. 3:10pm- Modi: 2014 election should be election for employment, development , opportunities and medicine for parents.3:06pm - Modi: Both Rahul and Sonia were in south India recently . Madam keeps abusing me. Among other things, Madam questioned our statue of unity but said that next election will be fought on unity.She keeps talking abour 'Zeher ki kheti' but the entire nation knows who is doing 'zeher ki kheti'.3:04pm - Modi:For HP's development, we need to give the youth jobs and need to promote tourism.3:02pm - Modi:Congress is a dynastic party and dynastic politics is the enemy of the democracy.3:00pm - Modi: One day a Kerala leader praised me, he was removed. A minister from Kerala met me, he was taken to task.This politics of hatred and untouchability is not good for a democracy. 3:00pm - Modi:And for whom should I be corrupt? This mind & body is totally devoted to the nation.3:00pm - Modi:For how long will the Congress keep protecting itself? The root cause of corruption in this nation is the Congress party.If Congressmen are not corrupt then why are they worried over black money? Black Money stashed abroad belongs to the people of India. These people have looted poor and have stashed black money abroad.2:58pm- Modi: Yesterday one of Congress leaders asked how many BJP leaders are in jail? I ask him to see what all his telecom ministers did in the past?2:56pm- Modi:PM says money does not grow on trees but his own CM in Himachal became 14 times richer as per his affidavit. When asked to explain it, he said that it all came from apple trees. 2:54pm- Modi:Like price rise, corruption is ruining the nation. Nation needs freedom from corruption.If we need freedom from corruption, we need freedom from the corrupt2:52pm- Modi:I would like to congratulate Dhumal ji for being sensitive towards the environment. Himachal Pradesh got many awards for that under his leadership.2:50pm- Modi:Himachal is such a small state but the time is wasted in bus journeys. Should Himachal not get a good rail network?Railway is an asset for our nation.2:49pm- Modi:First and foremost we need to bring forward those who have been left out of the development journey2:47pm- Modi:BJP will give special focus to the development of the Himalayan states.What they did not do for you in 60 years, we will do for you in 60 months, I assure you. You will see the change.2:45pm- Modi:Solutions in one state cannot be used in other states due to geographical diversity. For example, problems of hill states are different from that of desert states. We need to understand issues and then solve them.By calling CM meets and asking CMs to speak for 10 mins will not help. PM must come to Himayalan states and sit with CMs.2:42pm- Modi:Congress arrogance has gone sky high and due to that they are not willing to answer the people. When Atal ji was PM, apple farmers got good prices but that did not happen underr UPA rule.We need a paradigm shift in our development journey. We will need to change our perspective of how we look at things.2:40pm- Modi:Congress leaders are going across the nation talking about greats of past but what about price rise? Did they promise to bring down price rise within 100 days? Did the prices go down?Congress leaders are not willing to accept that they were unable to bring down prices despite their promises. 2:38pm- Modi:Will you accept other nations bullying us. Do we want to get bullied like this?2:36pm- Modi:I have seen Jawans in the battlefield. When Kargil happened we had gone there, we saw the Jawans fighting for the motherland. 2:33pm- Modi:I want to ask you if you have any faith in the Congress government. Do you trust these leaders, their promises and what they say? If not then why do you tolerate them? This is perhaps the first government which is not trusted by the people.2:31pm- Modi:Atal ji used to like Himachal Pradesh a lot. Himachal Pradesh will always have a special place in my life. It was from Himachal that I went to Gujarat as CM of the state.2:29pm- Modi: Those who have been in power for 60 years, politics is busines but for us this is an opportunity to serve the nation.2:28pm - Modi: In BJP we don't have only memberships but actually it's relationships.2:27pm - Modi: I salute this land of Gods.I am feeling very happy today. Himachal Pradesh has given me a lot of affection and respect.2:25pm - Modi begins his speech2:18pm- Rajnath Singh: I want a promise from you all. Please do not look at individual candidates. Vote for ‘Lotus' and Narendra Bhai. Please ensure that the BJP gets all 4 seats from Himachal Pradesh.2:08pm- Rajnath Singh: Congress govt has not given free hand to our security forces despite reports of incursions from China. They could not even open any factory that could produce quality weapons for our armed forces. This has happened despite the fact that we have organizations like DRDO in this country. I can assure you that if Modi becomes PM of this country, weapons will be produced indigenously.01:37pm - Prem kumar Dhumal: Modi ji, people of Himachal Pradesh see you as the next Atal Bihari Vajpayee1:20 pm: Modi reaches rally venue8:10 am: NaMo tea stalls have been put up at the rally venue for the benefit of supporters trickling in despite bad weather. Rally organisers are hopeful ex-servicemen will turn out in large numbers to hear Modi speak.8 am: The main stage which was supposed to get ready by Saturday afternoon, could not be finished due to heavy downpour. The weather cleared somewhat last night, though today it is still cloudy.